


Chocolate Chip Cookies

by HappyEight



Series: Cookie Comforts [1]
Category: Big Bang Theory
Genre: Baking, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-27
Updated: 2012-10-27
Packaged: 2017-11-17 03:22:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/547092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HappyEight/pseuds/HappyEight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Penny has a long day at work and Sheldon just wants to watch Doctor Who.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chocolate Chip Cookies

At this point Penny didn’t even care that she was sitting in her pajamas getting ready to eat cookie dough right out of the bowl. It wasn’t like she was prone to this kind of behavior. Today had just been so terrible she was giving herself a free pass to do whatever it was she pleased for the evening.

She had been expecting to have a relaxing day, perhaps clean up her apartment a little or look up auditions that she could try out for. The main goal though had been to not get out of her sweats and tank-top at all. It was to be a strictly lounge around the house and do whatever Penny wanted to do kind of day.

That was what was _suppose_ to happen.

Her day had actually started at 7:30 when her manager at the Cheesecake Factory had called her in to cover part of one of her co-workers shifts. It was only suppose to be for a few hours until the lunch shift started and then she was to be home free. Penny wasn’t in a good position to say no. Money was tight at the moment and she was already getting more hours cut than she was comfortable with and a few hours totally wouldn’t ruin her Penny’s day in.

A four hour shift had turned into “Can you stay through the lunch rush?” to “There’s a big dinner party coming in at 6:30, Martha called in sick, and we could really use your help.”

So after almost twelve hours Penny had dragged her achy feet and back right home to her apartment. The pajamas had gone back on after she had immersed herself in the bath for a half hour. Her rumbling stomach had dragged her from the tub into the kitchen. It was there that she’d decided “fuck it” and had started throwing all of the ingredients for chocolate chip cookies into a bowl.

After, she decided that the dough really did not need to be cooked. Because, it had seemed like a good idea at the time but this dough was going to take at least an hour to cool all the it. She was just too tired to deal with that tonight. So she’d settled onto the couch with a blanket and the remote and the entire bowl of cookie dough. If she wasn’t going to care a little bit, she wasn’t going to care at all.

She almost had the first spoonful to her mouth when she heard the knocking.

Knock. Knock. Knock. “Penny.”

There was absolutely no confusing that knocking with someone else. Why Sheldon was knocking on her door after 9 O’clock at night, she had no clue. **  
**

Knock. Knock. Knock. “Penny.” **  
**

She imagined that she was about to find out. **  
**

Knock. Knock.- **  
**

 **“** Yes Sheldon?” Penny asked mustering all of the politeness that she could muster. **  
**

 **“** It’s Saturday, Penny, which means that tonight is Doctor who night.” Sheldon said matter of factly. **  
**

 **“** Sweetie, I’m not in the mood for Doctor Who tonight. I had a long day and I just want to make friends with my couch until I fall asleep.” **  
**

 **“** Penny I am unable to watch Doctor who tonight.” Sheldon said and Penny could hear the faint tone of distress in his voice. “It is nine O’clock and I am unable to continue on with Doctor Who because Howard -- and I use the term lightly because his actions borders on theft -- borrowed the fourth season box set. Leonard let him without realizing the catastrophic consequences it would have. His sentiments that it would be more cost effective to buy only one copy of the season instead of two individual copies were correct but I warned him something like this would happen. Needless to say, I will be purchasing my own Doctor Who season box set from here on out. I should have known better than to let Leonard's opinion on such a delicate matter sway my opinion. I was just telling-” **  
**

 **“** Okay Sheldon! What do you want me to do about all of this?” If she didn’t cut Sheldon off sooner than later she would be standing here until the End of Days final came around. For someone who could be so socially awkward, Sheldon had no problem talking the ear of of someone he was familiar with. Somewhere down the line Penny had fallen out of the category of “Neighbor girl who Sheldon has awkward conversations with” into “Girl that Sheldon comes to whenever he has a ‘serious’ problem”. The upgrade was endearingly exasperating as far as Penny could conclude. **  
**

 **“** Leonard was under the impression that you might have a copy of the season in question in your possession.” **  
**

 **“** Sheldon why would I have a copy of Doctor Who?” Penny sighed, she was ready to just go to bed at this point, cookie dough be damned. **  
**

 **“** That was my sentiment but he seemed to insist that you were in possession of a copy. He claimed to have purchased it for you.”

 **“** Well you’re welcome to look but I don’t really remember.” Penny shrugged and grudgingly moved out of the doorway to allow Sheldon access to her apartment. A memory squirmed in the back of her mind and she started to suspect that Leonard had gifted her a season of Doctor Who at some point in time. She can’t remember for the life of her why, but she supposes it had been the thought that counted. **  
**

 **“** I see you haven’t maintained the organization scheme I put in place for you.” Sheldon huffed as he glanced around. Penny didn’t think he was surprised though. Even if it had been nice to be able to find things when she was looking for them, she’d felt she couldn’t let his actions slide on principle alone. She told herself it was because she was an adult dammit and she didn’t need someone coming in here and slotting her life together for her. She ignored the  juvenile part of her that  knew she didn’t keep things overly clean because that felt too much like letting Sheldon win for some reason.

 **“** Sorry Moonpie. Some of us are too busy to worry about our cereal boxes being in the correct order.” Penny teased. Really she’d purposely messed up her cupboards after she’d discovered what Sheldon had done all while telling herself that she was not being childish and she liked how her cupboards had been previously organized. **  
**

Sheldon narrowed his eyes and looked at her critically. Penny felt like he was about to call her out on her childish actions. He looked away though and moved to her movie cabinet. She watched him look inside, close his eyes, and take deep breath. And okay, yeah even she’d admit that the movie cabinet could use a little work. She knew it should be pretty simple to stick the DVD’s back in their cases and stick them back on the shelf. It was also just as easy to stack the DVD’s in a nice caseless pile too. **  
**

 **“** How you get by on a daily basis is a mystery to me.” Sheldon muttered as he scanned through her stacks of abused DVD’s. **  
**

Penny settled back onto the couch and watched Sheldon fret over the DVDs and wondered if watching him have a sight breakdown was more interesting than the TV or if she really was that tired. He was snapping DVDs back into their cases carefully yet quickly. If he started to organize them she was going to kick him out though. He could do that kind of thing on his own time. **  
**

 **“** Leonard was correct. You do own a season of Doctor Who. However it is season one which does me no good at-Good lord what are you doing?” Sheldon gasped as he spotted Penny removing a cookie-doughless spoon from her mouth. She swallowed thickly feeling like she had just been caught doing something heinous. From the way Sheldon was looking at her in mild horror, she suspected that to him she had. “Do not tell me I need to outline the risks of eating raw cookie dough for you.” **  
**

Penny moved to stick the spoon back in the bowl but froze when Sheldon made a helpless sounding gasp. She rolled her eyes and tossed the spoon down onto her coffee table. **  
**Sheldon relaxed and then looked suspiciously at her kitchen and the oven which was definitely not on or preheated in any way.

 **“** Penny were you planning on eating _all_ of that _raw_?” Sheldon sounded like he was in pain, but with some surprise she also suspected he was holding himself back from grabbing the bowl from her hands before she could ingest anymore of the life threatening, uncooked dough. **  
**

 **“** Um, I hadn’t been planning on it.” Which is technically true. She had been planning on getting a majority of the dough cooked and then when that hadn’t panned out she hadn’t planned on eating all of the dough. That wouldn’t have made her sick for sure. She probably would have gotten through most of it if she was going to be honest with herself. **  
**

 **“** Look, I had a long day. If I want to risk my well being by eating raw cookie dough, I can.” **  
**

Penny realized how defensive she sounded. She also realized that this conversation might heading in the direction of a shouting match soon. At least she thinks it might be until Sheldon gives her another narrowed eyed look and says, “So would I be correct in saying that the main reason you have not bake the cookie dough is that you are simply too tired to fully prepare the recipe accordingly. You don’t actually prefer the dough to the baked good?” **  
**

Penny feels confused. It wasn’t an argument but she wasn’t sure what it _was_ wither. She was not sure what Sheldon is trying to get at. She nodded to his question though, imagining that she was going to understand shortly. **  
**

 **“** What if someone else were to finish the recipe? I take it you would have no problem with someone else baking the cookie dough?” **  
**

 **“** Yeah. I mean, no, I wouldn’t mind.” Penny had the the feeling that she’s being particularly dense about what Sheldon’s getting at. If she was going to be fair with herself thought, dealing with that last dinner party at work had sapped up most of her remaining available brain cells for the evening. **  
**

 **“** Excellent.” **  
**

And then he grabbed the cookie dough from her and practically jogged it to the kitchen where he shoved it in her practically empty fridge. It suddenly clicks that, yes, Penny was being exceptionally dense, but at the same time, Sheldon offering to cook anything for anyone is not something that she thought to expect. **  
**

In her kitchen Sheldon was setting the oven temperature and pulling out cookie sheets. Penny shouldn’t feel so surprised that Sheldon knew where everything was in her kitchen, even though she did do a fair job at messing up all of his careful organization. Perhaps it’s more the idea that Sheldon even knew his way around a kitchen at all that is the things that was the most surprising. He actually looked like he knew what he was doing, too. The idea of Sheldon making cookies as a child with his mother is an odd one but then again, Penny had long since abandoned the idea that Sheldon was some kind of alien sent to Earth to observe. He was eccentric, but most definitely human. Also it made her grin thinking about tiny Sheldon making chocolate chip cookies and making sure all the measurements for the recipe were as exact as possible. **  
**

Penny sat on the couch and watched as Sheldon read the recipe she’s left on the counter. He retrieved the dough from the fridge after letting it firm up and followed the recipes recommendations for how much dough was to be spooned onto the sheets. She wondered if he was going to ask her for a ruler to check and make sure the dough is equally spread on the tray. **  
**

 **“** I’m under the impression that particular section of the recipe is more of a guideline and the actual dough will not be affected by a slight vary in proximity.”  Sheldon glances over his shoulder at her and raises an eyebrow. Probably due to the fact that Penny is draping herself across the back of her couch in order to comfortably watch what Sheldon is doing. “As long as the dough is given enough room to spread without collision of course. It would be easier if you had the correct tool for measuring the dough though. The variance in size could affect cooking times negatively.” **  
**

It’s odd but Penny didn’t actually think that Sheldon was complaining. It sounded more like an observation. She wondered if it was weird that she was able to make the kind of distinction now, between Sheldon’s normal stream of consciousness type talking aloud and the way he talks when he actually has a problem with something that is happening. **  
**

The oven beeped to alert them that it was preheated right as Sheldon spooned the last cookie onto the tray. He slide both trays into the oven and put the timer on and the remaining dough went back into her fridge. Once again the fact that an entire mixing bowl can fit in her fridge with no maneuvering reminded her that she needed to go grocery shopping ASAP. She was going to have to steal milk from the boys tomorrow morning if she wanted cereal. She’d probably have to steal the cereal, too. **  
**

There was a moment where Penny was just watching Sheldon stand in her kitchen and when she realized that it looked like he was just going to stand next to the oven until the timer goes went. Also he was eying the dirty dishes and it made her feel somewhat guilty that there were still dishes from dinner last night lurking in the sink. **  
**

 **“** Why don’t you sit down and I’ll do the dishes.” Penny told him, the need to step in before he started doing them overriding how tired she felt, which oddly enough, was less tired than she felt before Sheldon waltzed into her apartment. **  
**

 **“** You shouldn’t leave fast cooking items alone. It is exceptionally easy to burn such items without constant supervision of the time.” Sheldon informed her. Penny refrained from pointing out that being on the other side of the room was not going to affect Sheldon’s observation of the time and she highly doubted that he would forget about them regardless of whether he was in the room or in the apartment across the hall. She also knew him well enough to know that he wasn’t going to go anywhere just in case. **  
**

 **“** Okay how about this.” Penny said instead getting up off of the couch. “Why don’t you put on Doctor Who and I’ll watch the cookies while I do the dishes.” **  
**

Sheldon opened his mouth to protest but Penny put all of her will power into a look that conveyed “I will go junior rodeo on your ass if you argue with me” and his eyebrows knitted together as he swallowed his argument.

“You do realize that this will be requiring me to backtrack four seasons for your sake.” There’s the faintest hint of whining but Sheldon was moving towards the DVD player as Penny moved into the kitchen to take his spot. She certainly didn’t think about how odd it was that she has completely forgotten how tired she was as she filled the sink with warm, soapy water.

Sheldon was muttering by the DVD player about ‘why on earth there are scratches on a DVD that’s only been watched once’ but he put it in after carefully wiping it clean. When the DVD play menu popped up and the tell tale theme song of the show is playing the time for the cookies went off.

“Sheldon can you get that?” Penny pleaded holding up wet soap covered hands. Sheldon rolled his eyes but returns to the kitchen and removes the cookies from the oven all while complaining about how her oven mitts were not thick enough and wondering what kind of kitchen didn’t have proper cooling trays. From all of the faults he was finding, she wryly wondered how she ever managed to cook anything in such a woefully under equipped kitchen.

"We can just do this in your apartment then next time if my kitchen is so pitiful.” The words were out of her mouth before she even thought about what she was implying. The implications aren’t lost on Sheldon though of course.

“Operating under the presumption that we will be making cookies again together, that would be optimal. It would also make sense to equip your kitchen with the proper equipment. Even someone with your salary can afford thicker oven mitts and cooling trays. It is a worthwhile investment.”

Once upon a time, Penny would have been furious if someone talked to her like Sheldon did. To be fair if anyone else did talk to her the way Sheldon did, they would think twice about it before doing it again. She did wonder when these types of conversations became normal between her and Sheldon. When did listening to a bona fide genius beret her on the problems with her kitchen or movies or anything else in her life become something she barely even batted an eye at? She imagined it must be something to do with Sheldon. He was not saying the things he did to be intentionally hurtful and to an extent Penny appreciated his bluntness even if it could come across as irritatingly rude at times.

She knew without a doubt if Leonard ever said half the things that Sheldon tells her he would never get away with it. At least half of the things that he did say on a regular basis make her want to throttle him because she knew that Leonard(unlike Sheldon) was almost always aware of what the double implications of his words were. She liked Leonard, enough to date him, even if he is a jerk at times(and isn’t that the kicker that even when she dates a nerd he’s still pretty much a jerk) and she liked being included in the guys group.

It was a rather pleasant shock when she realized that she was considered part of the group. Even Sheldon put up with her lack of organization and constantly changing schedule to try and include her in group happenings. As far as she had noticed he didn’t do that kind of thing for just anyone.

The rattling of cookie trays brought Penny out of her musings. That and the cookies were giving off a heavenly smell. Penny could feel herself almost drooling thinking about how delicious they were going to taste all chewy cookie and hot, melty chocolate. Her stomach growled in agreement.

Sheldon slide the cookies off of the tray onto a plate and Penny picked up one almost immediately, noticing how much smaller they were than the ones that she usually made --she was not even sure how much cookie dough was supposed to be used per cookie, clearly Sheldon did though -- and took a bite, mindless of the hot melted chocolate and giving a small, almost comical groan when it burned her mouth. She chewed and breathed deeply through her mouth at the same time,  trying to cool the cookie without actually slowing down in eat it. **  
**Sheldon looked scandalized again.

 **“** You should have waited for it to cool down, so as not to risk burning your mouth.” He scolds as he slide the rest of the cookies off the trays to cool. **  
**

 **“** Don’t care.” Penny mumbled through her cookie, chewing more comfortable now that the treat has cooled slightly and she can close her mouth. **  
**

 **“** Of course you don’t.” Sheldon sighed wearily like she was some kind of impossible child that he had to put up with. Penny was pretty sure that nine times out of ten that was the exact opposite situation. She ignored that this was the one time out of ten where Sheldon might have been somewhat(if not completely) justified. **  
**

 **“** Are you going to eat any?” Penny inquired picking up another cookie, breaking it in half and letting it cool before she tried to eat this one. **  
**

 **“** Are you offering?” Sheldon asked seriously. There was not one drip of sarcasm in his voice and really she did not understand how his mind worked at all. “I felt it might be rude to assume.” **  
**

 **“** Yes Sheldon, I am offering you cookies. You did help make them.” Penny rolled her eyes. **  
**

 **“** Then yes, I  will try one of your cookies. However don’t be disappointed if they don’t match up to my high expectations. Memaw has absolutely spoiled me when it comes to other people’s baking. I’ve tried many cookies over the years but none of them has quite met up to my standards.” Sheldon informs her kindly, or at least she thinks he’s being kind about it. He could just be informing her. Full Stop. **  
**

 **“** Sheldon just eat a cookie.” Penny snapped and then bit into her own cookie which was definitely cool. **  
**

Sheldon obediently picked up a cookie only giving it a mildly dubious look before biting into it. He chewed slowly and made a small quiet humming noise that Penny imagined sounded thoughtful, while being both constructive and critical at the same time. She didn’t even know what to do with him. It was just a cookie for Christ’s sake. **  
**

 **“** What now Sheldon?” **  
**

**“** Its odd. While this definitely is not up to the standards of when Memaw makes them, surprisingly, quite good. There is room for improvement of course more butter, real butter as you used margarine, and fresher eggs would have helped,  as would adjusting the sugar ratio but this could shape up to a fine cookie recipe.” Sheldon commented as he slowly worked his way through the rest of the cookie.

“Thanks Sheldon, that really means a lot.” Penny said wryly grabbing a third cookie and turned to get the rest of the cookie dough out of the fridge. In a way actually it kind of did mean something that Sheldon thought her cookies had potentially(or at least the cookie recipe has potential). He wouldn’t have told her so unless he actually meant it. Sheldon never tell something unless he means it. Lying is not something that he is able to do with any success at all.

As soon as she had set the dough on the counter Sheldon stepped in and carefully started dropping spoonfuls onto the tray keeping them equal and evenly spaced even without the proper instruments. She went back to washing the dishes and finished right as Sheldon put the trays back in the oven.

When she noticed that Sheldon started humming the the theme song for Doctor Who quietly as they worked and she didn’t say anything. She almost wanted join in but was a little worried that Sheldon would stop. She did think it was kind of adorable, right up with the image of little Sheldon making cookies.

Half an hour later they were sitting on the couch watching the Doctor and Rose race around together to save London from Nestene Consciousness and an army of mannequins. Penny still thought that the show was unbelievably cheesy and told Sheldon so.

He gasped and held his hand to his chest at her declaration

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing. You find an army of mannequins invading London to be an implausible event?”

Penny giggled at Sheldon’s mocking defense of the show and wondered again when that was something that Sheldon started doing, the playful banter that has no seriousness to it. She like it.

“You’ll just have to watch the rest of it to understand how magnificent the show truly is. Eccleston is one of the best regenerations of the Doctor, but David Tennant really is amazing on an entirely different level.” Sheldon told her and he sounded so earnest and excited about it.

“Yeah I think I will.” Penny agreed, actually feeling reasonable excited about watching the next episode. She didn’t remember feeling this way when Leonard had sat down with her and watched it. Of course Leonard had been talking over the show the whole time, and she had found it rather difficult to focus on what was going on when she was getting plot information for things that didn’t happen until the third season.

“Would you be amiable for next Saturday?”

“Next Saturday it is.” Penny agreed with a grin,  thinking about how she’d have to come up with a better cookie recipe by then. Or maybe she would just make Sheldon come up with one. And there was one more picture to add to the quickly growing stack of adorable images, Sheldon looking through cookbooks to look for the perfect recipe frowning until he realizes that he would probably be better off coming up with his own recipe.

Penny grinned as she leaned back to watch the rest of the episode. Yep, that was definitely what she was going to do.

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta'd so apologies for any errors in spelling, grammar or tenses.


End file.
